The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-01-01

Taoh had been so wicked that when hi
got where he was willing to let Israe
go, God as a punishment for his pas
sins brought upon him miraculous I'll
of stubbornness which he could not re-
sist, and so he refused to let the people
go, thus necessitating fresh miseries
and woes, and when he was again will
ing to let them go, again He interpOsed
sending an irresistible fit of stubborn
ness upon him, and whereas he would
not let the people go, now he could not,
yet all the time he acted freely and
piled wickedness upon wickedness.
That is God punished wickedness with
more wickedness, and was not willing
that Pharaoh should do what he COM
manded him to do, and though He hard
ened his heart, he punished him for the
wickedness of his disObedience. If this
is instruction for all the after genera
tions, what is the lesson ?
2. Another attempted explanation is
that as God had made the laws of cause
and effect, the law of sin and its pun
ishment, the laws which govern the
| human mind, it is in accordance with
those laws that sin tends to harden the
sinner, and Pharaoh thus hardened
himself, but as the process was in ac-
cOrdance with the divine law, God may
be said indirectly to have hardened him.
But it is not indirectly, that any of this
work of Israel's deliverance is repre-
sented as having been accomplished,
but directly, by wonders and signs, by
personal intervention, and not by nat
ural and impersonal sequences of law.
If it had been as this explanation sup
poses, there would have been no need
of saying anything about it.
3. Still another way of treating it is
to say that God is absolutely sovereign;
that he may do as he pleases that it is
none of our business, and we need not
inquire anything about it. On this
suppOsitiOn there is nothing moral in
volved, and there is no need of any
moral or religious instruction whatever
and no need of having anything at all
recorded.
4. A fourth way of dealing with it
is to say, ''It is a great mystery, and no
man can explain it and it is no use to
try But how will this do? The word
translated harden" here, in Hebrew
means three. --rAFeey-~te-aake- frny
strong, strengthen, etc. 1t is cor
rect reading to read, 81 will strength
en- his heart" etc.
Now, what is to &" strengthen the
heart" in the Bible usage? To take
away terror and fear, to give courage, to
give heart to one. The Lord shall
strengthen thine heart" Ps. xvii, II,
XXI, 24.
The meaning is this, Pharaoh as the
result of these plaques was terrified
and willing to promise anything in his
terror; but when the plague is stayed,
the Lord removed the terror of his heart
that he may act the righteous part
freely and unconstrainedly if he will do
50, and not under duress. The judg
ments were sent to teach end not to
terrify; therefore the Lord determines
to remove the terror and panic from his
mind. He strengthens his heart,re =
moves his terror, calls him back to
himself and demands of him that he
shall do right as a man, and not as a
terrified coward. The object of this
strengthening or hardening is to secure
and confirm Pharaoh's freedom of will
and moral action, and not to destroy it
as the common explanation would make
it do.
We use the term hardening the
heart, ," hardness of heart - as mean
ing to make stubborn, pitiless, etc, and
conversely ''softness of heart, y 'melt-
ing of heart" to signify tenderness,
pitifulness, sympathy, penitenee, etc.
But this is not the primary meaning of
the expressions in the earliest Script
ures. There hardness or strength of
heart signifies boldness, bravery, cour-
age, hardihood; and softness of heart,
melting of heart, to signify fear, terror,
etc. Other meanings may later ON have
been derived from these. There is no
need of going into Hebrew and Greek
to perceive this, and it is strange that
our modern idiom and our traditional
theology has been allowed to OBJ
scure the evident meaning of this
passage so long. 1.-The Bible its owI
interpreter, " if not an infalhble rule, is
yet one which would be followed, dis
sipate many errors. AS illustrative
see the following passages: Job xiii, Is
For God maketh my heart soft, anC
the Almighty tToubleth me-" Joshu;
ii, II, And as soon as we heard GU
hearts did melt, neither did there re
main any more courage in any man.
xiv S, Nevertheless my brethren tina
went up with me made the heart of thu
people melt, )" terrified them IL Sam
xvii, 10, And he also that is valiant
whose heart is as the heart Of a lion
shall utterly melt" Isaiah xiii, 7, etc
The Inter ocean well remarks; Tn